It was only a few years ago that I was pointing at Peyton Manning and calling him “second-rate.” Why? Well for one, Manning never won in the playoffs. But to make matters worse, there was that post-game interview in 2006, after Indy lost a divisional playoff game to the Steelers. The one where he threw he pinned the Colts’ upset on the failure of the offensive line.
When Did Tom Brady Become Human?
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Not only would Tom Brady never … (gulp) … lose in the playoffs, but he would NEVER call out his teammates after a game that he lost. Never.
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Err… Maybe yesterday was an exception, then. After the Patriots lost a game to the lowly Miami Dolphins—and Brady threw a boneheaded INT with New England driving to win it—he had some choice words for his teammates, naturally:
↵↵“Everyone has got to focus on what they need to do better. I think that’s the most important thing: being mentally tough to overcome adversity,” Brady said. “When things don’t go your way, you have to fight back. That’s a challenge for all of us. I think at times we do, and at times I don’t think we fight very hard.
↵↵On its own, I guess that quote’s not that big of a deal. But you have to consider it alongside this whole season—and everything since that huge Super Bowl loss, really. Suddenly, Tom Brady’s not impervious to criticism, and where the old Brady might have taken the sole blame for this loss, suddenly he’s pointing at teammates and saying sometimes “we” don’t fight very hard.
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That means “they” don’t fight that hard, and “Look guys, I’m not the problem here.” Maybe he’s right, of course. But just for the record, the old Tom Brady never would have said something like that, and that’s what made him so special. He was unstoppable AND a great teammate.
↵Now, he’s stoppable and… well, you decide.
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(HT: PFT)
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